SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (Proper 20)
September 24, 2023
AS WE GATHER
How’s your prayer life? Many think of prayer as a big red button on the wall with the instruction, “when all else fails, press!” When are you most likely to pray? For most of us our most fervent prayer happens in times of crisis or suffering. For Christians, says St. Paul, rather than seeing suffering as God’s judgment for sin or as God abandoning us, we need to learn of suffering’s being as much of a gift of God as is the gift of faith. Suffering for the sake of Christ, because we are disciples and believers is more obvious. But even our suffering of the ills and misfortunes, heartbreaks and catastrophes that are but common to all who live in a sinful world are moments of God’s grace for us as we look to the Cross of Christ where He suffered for all. In Christ we can rejoice even when we face trials in this life.
Bible Readings
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 55:6-9
(The message of restoration, a matter of life and death.)
EPISTLE READING: Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30
(Faith tested and purified through suffering.)
HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 20:1-16
(To question God’s grace for others is to lose it for yourself.)